British premier Keir Starmer has promised to make the United Kingdom “ready for battle”, presenting a revision of the defense aimed at contrasting the threats of countries such as Russia, which every day considers threatening the country directly. Speaking from the naval construction sites in Glasgow, the Labor leader promised to spend other billions in factories of weapons, drones and submarines, even at the cost of once again plundering the welfare or the budget of aid, to build new armaments, including nuclear.
Ready for battle
“The revision of the defense is a project to make Great Britain safer and stronger, a nation ready for the battle and equipped with armor with the strongest alliances and the most advanced capacities,” said Starmer in launching the plan that aims to spend 3 percent of the gross internal product for defense, the prime minister claimed that the defense must be priority compared to other public services.
“Russia is already threatening our skies and our waters, and threatens IT attacks, so this is a real threat with which we are dealing,” he said.
Expenditure increases
The prime minister promised to spend 2.5 percent of the country’s economic production for the defense by 2027-28, with a further ambition to spend the 3 at a certain point in the next Parliament.
London will carry on a radical turning point in its defense strategy, focusing a lot on drones and digital war rather than a more large army. “The drones today kill more than traditional artillery in the war in Ukraine, and those who manage to put the new technology faster in the hands of their armed forces will win,” said the secretary of state to defense John Healey.
The one promised is the largest increased increase in British military spending from the end of the Cold War, thus responding to the appeals of the American president Donald Trump because Europe takes more responsibility for its safety.
Shortly after his election in July 2024, Starmer launched a strategic revision of the defense, entrusting the drafting of the plan to experts such as the former NATO secretary General George Robertson and Fiona Hill, former councilor of the White House on Russia. The idea is to make the British army more lethal and technological, taking inspiration from the war in Ukraine.
A smaller, but more powerful army
Despite the cuts in the military budget of recent years, the United Kingdom remains one of the main European military powers, alongside France. However, with only 70,860 professional soldiers, the British army is today the smallest since Napoleon’s time. To make up for the lack of men, London, however, focuses on technology, and undertakes to different goals.
First of all, explore the possibility that the United Kingdom reintroduce nuclear weapons launched by the air, discussing with the United States and NATO the possibility of buying F-35A hunting equipped with American bombs B61-12 which could be deployed in the event of war. Then spend 15 billion pounds to develop new nuclear newspapers launched by submarines and commit to building 12 Aukus attack submarines with nuclear propulsion in derby and Barrow, starting from 2030.
In addition, there is talk of investing 1 billion pounds in air and missile defense, 6 billion pounds in ammunition during this legislature and opening at least six new arms factories in the United Kingdom as part of a program to increase military stocks, which can currently last only a few days in case of crisis. At least six new ammunition factories will be built and up to 7 thousand long -range weapons produced in the nation will be purchased. New field communication systems will also be developed.
